Field billing_on in recurring app charge

[danhho]

hello everyone, I'm setup billing for my app with recurring plan and usage plan following docs. Now I have a response when query into "/admin/api/2023-07/recurring_application_charges.json" like this:

{
    "recurring_application_charge": {
        "id": xxxxxx,
        "name": "Silver",
        "price": "99.90",
        "billing_on": "2023-09-15",
        "status": "active",
        "created_at": "2023-09-14T23:41:14-04:00",
        "updated_at": "2023-09-14T23:41:42-04:00",
        "activated_on": "2023-09-15",
        "return_url": "xxxx",
        "test": true,
        "cancelled_on": null,
        "trial_days": 0,
        "trial_ends_on": "2023-09-15",
        "api_client_id": 53565095937,
        "decorated_return_url": "xxxx",
        "capped_amount": "500.00",
        "balance_used": 1.0,
        "balance_remaining": 499.0,
        "risk_level": 0.0,
        "currency": "USD"
    }
}

I have couple question:
1. Field billing_on will update if shopify charge success in last month and reset balance_used to 0?
Example:  my current billing_on is 2023-09-05, after 30 days pass and they are charged merchant store, now billing_on will update to  2023-10-05?
2. When billing_on field  update, can it trigger app_subscription_update webhook? (I see in docs say webhook will trigger when subscription update or cancel)

Because I cannot but test or simulate recurring charge in my dev store, so I want to make sure clarify above problem when shopify after charge

Thanks in advanced.

[Liam · Accepted solution]

Hi Danhho,

1. Yes, the billing_on field will be updated to the next billing date after a successful charge. It is essentially the start date of the next billing cycle. The balance_used field also resets to 0 at the start of each new billing cycle.

2. Unfortunately, the app_subscription_update webhook does not get triggered when the billing_on field updates. It only gets triggered when the subscription itself is updated or cancelled.

You could potentially set up a task in your app to check the billing_on date regularly, such as daily, and take action when the date changes.

Also, it's worth noting that Shopify does not provide a way to simulate recurring charges in a development store. So, you would need to use a real transaction to test the billing cycle.

Hope this helps!

[danhho]

Thanks for your comfirm @Liam, it nearly close to clarify

You could potentially set up a task in your app to check the billing_on date regularly, such as daily, and take action when the date changes.

Your mean is we must set up a schedule function in my app and run per days to check and update billing_on in my DB. Is it right?

[zksumon]

Hi Liam ,

that was an excellent answer.

will the app_subscription_update get triggered if status changes to "FROGEN" and "ACTIVE" from "FROGEN" ?